In a race that looks like it is coming down to the wire, veteran California sire Grazen is looking to hold off Stay Thirsty and secure his second straight leading sire title. Grazen entered stud in California in 2010 and has spent his entire career in the state, currently residing at Eclipse Thoroughbred Farm in Solvang since the 2024 season. Now 18, the son of Benchmark has ranked in the top 10 California sires by progeny earnings, regardless of progeny conception area, every year since 2019. He claimed the state’s leading general sire title by earnings in 2023 and is atop the 2024 list through Dec. 15, with his runners having banked $4,345,721. Stay Thirsty is less than $200,000 behind, with $4,167,990. Grazen’s lead is even more impressive considering Stay Thirsty moved to Lovacres Ranch in Warner Springs for the 2018 season, after spending the first five years of his stallion career in Kentucky, where stallions have larger books of mares. Those figures bolstered his early years in California, although he quickly made an impact when his first state-conceived runners hit the track in 2021. Stay Thirsty leads California stallions by both runners, with 202, and winners, with 103, through Dec. 15. Grazen has 71 winners from 114 runners. Grazen’s winners, however, include a state-leading seven individual stakes winners. His Rose Maddox, a three-time stakes winner in 2023, again bolstered his figures in 2024, winning the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint. She has helped put Grazen atop California’s turf earnings list, along with the general sire list. Johnny Podres won the Siren Lure and Sensational Star Stakes and also was Grade 3-placed. Connie Swingle, a stakes winner in 2021 and 2022, missed the entire 2023 season. She returned from that layoff of well more than a year to win the Daisycutter Handicap, earning her sire’s top Beyer Speed Figure, a 100. Duly Noted claimed the Livermore Valley Stakes. Grazen’s 2-year-olds also made themselves known in California, hinting at the sire’s prospects for the coming year. Hey Jessie won 2 of 3 outings, including the Soviet Problem Stakes, while Sunset Grazen took the Golden Gate Debutante. Outside of California, Blazingbellablu won the Hastings Stakes in Washington. Connie Swingle, Johnny Podres, and Rose Maddox were all bred by Nick Alexander. Connie Swingle and the now retired Rose Maddox are owned by Alexander, who also bred and campaigned their sire. Grazen won 4 of 7 starts, with three stakes wins in California, highlighted by the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap in 2009 over eventual Grade 1 winner Misremembered. Grazen also took the NTRA Stakes and El Cajon Stakes that year and was second in the Grade 2 Swaps to Misremembered. Grazen’s top career runners include three-time graded stakes winner Lieutenant Dan, who was second in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and graded stakes winners Enola Gray, Just Grazed Me, and S Y Sky. All are Alexander homebreds. Stay Thirsty, who has been a prominent addition to the California ranks over the last half-decade, continues to be successful with his state-sired crops, leading California’s 2-year-old sire earnings list through Dec. 15. His top earner is the consistent In the Air Tonight, who holds a record of 6-2-2-1 for breeder and co-owner Terry Lovingier, who stands Stay Thirsty. In the Air Tonight won the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes and was second in the Generous Portion Stakes before finishing a decent fourth while taking a huge step up in class in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes. She finished third in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies and then was second in the Soviet Problem to Grazen’s Hey Jessie. Beyer stallion standings The late California sire Vronsky, a perennial force in the state sire ranks who died in 2021 at Harris Farms, still made an impact in national speed figure standings in 2024. According to Daily Racing Form’s exclusive stallion metrics, the Beyer Sire Performance Standings, Vronsky tied for 10th among all current and former U.S. stallions by the number of triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures turned in by their progeny. Vronsky and the late Arrogate, along with living sires City of Light, Frosted, Good Magic, and Tapit each had four 100-plus figures from their progeny. All four of Vronsky’s triple-digit figures came from his best horse, the California-bred millionaire and multiple Grade 1 winner The Chosen Vron, who went 5 for 6 in his 2024 campaign. He began by winning the Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint with a 98 Beyer, then took the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes with a 101, the Kona Gold Stakes with a 102, and the Thor’s Echo Stakes with a 90. His top figure came while repeating in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes – his 18th career stakes win overall – with a 105 Beyer. He earned a 104 while second by a neck in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien. Grazen led the state with the most Beyer Speed Figures of 90 or higher, with 15 such numbers being earned by six individual horses. Those figures ranked him among the top 40 living U.S. stallions. Grazen’s lone triple-digit Beyer was the 100 that Connie Swingle posted while winning the Daisycutter Handicap. Smiling Tiger will be missed Grade 1 winner and prominent California sire Smiling Tiger was euthanized in August at age 17 at Harris Farms, due to complications of ataxia. The stallion will be a major loss to the state’s sire ranks as he has been among the top 10 general sires each year since 2018 and ranks third on the 2024 list through Dec. 15. He also currently leads the synthetic-surface earnings list. Smiling Tiger will have several more crops with which to posthumously continue making an impact in the Golden State. According to breeding statistics from The Jockey Club, he was represented by 80 live foals in his crop of 2022, representing current 2-year-olds. From that crop, he has 18 starters, with six winners, through Dec. 15. According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, Smiling Tiger covered 84 mares in 2022 and had books of 33 each in 2023 and 2024, his final seasons. Smiling Tiger, a three-time Grade 1-winning sprinter in California, is the sire of 23 career stakes winners to date, led by Grade 1 winner Spiced Perfection. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.